INDIANAPOLIS - Indiana lawmakers worked late into Thursday, ending the 2014 Indiana General Assembly by advancing key issues that had defined the legislative session.

Gov. Mike Pence received legislative solutions on many of his main priorities, though some were scaled back from the Republican governor's initial proposals and with protections to ensure the state continued to stay within its budget. In the final hours, lawmakers approved a pre-kindergarten grant program, business tax cuts, and as much as $400 million in road funding for state highway projects.

The 2014 session also will be remembered for what didn't pass — a state constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage — with Hoosiers on both sides of the issue packing the halls of the Statehouse and testifying at four-hour long committee hearings into February. While Indiana voters won't see a ban as a statewide referendum on November's ballot, the issue could resurface as soon as next year.

On local issues, the General Assembly finally embraced placing more regulations on motorized scooters — a bill that received bipartisan support.

"All in all it has just been a tremendous session," Indiana House Speaker Brian Bosma said. "I'm very proud of the members here. Republican and Democrat, House and Senate. They worked hard. They brought this home, despite the predictions we'd get sidetracked."

Pre-kindergarten grant program

The Indiana House and Senate cleared legislation to establish the pre-kindergarten grant program with bipartisan support on Thursday.

The compromise creates an actual grant program for pre-kindergarten education — a key education priority for Pence — along with a comprehensive study of early childhood education. While the Senate had originally stripped the pilot program from the legislation, negotiations brought it back. Pence celebrated the legislation passing on Twitter, writing the program will provide the first ever state money for pre-kindergarten.

Sen. Luke Kenley, R-Noblesville, said the agreement hones down Pence's "rather ambitious" proposal, which could have included as many as 40,000 children, to those the state "really needs to step up and help."

"We all know there are some children who are not receiving help from their parents at home in terms of having been read to or paid attention to any education preparation," Kenley said.

The legislation would take effect July 1 and charges the Indiana Family and Social Services Administration with designing and implementing the program.

The most likely scenario is the grants could become available for 4-year-olds beginning in 2015, said Claire Fiddian-Green, special assistant to the governor for education innovation. Bosma said his hope is the program could begin as early as the upcoming school year. The program will be rolled out to five Indiana counties that have yet to be determined.

The grant amount will range from $2,500 to $6,800. Families that earn 127 percent of the federal poverty level would be eligible to apply. Families could use those grants at a wide-range of providers, including public schools, licensed child care centers, licensed child care homes and church-based programs. Grants must be used at programs meeting certain curriculum or national accreditation standards.

The state will provide $10 million for the program, financed from federal dollars or unused money returned from the Indiana Family and Social Services Administration to the state's general fund. The program also would require a match from private contributors of up to $5 million.

The agreement also eliminates likely the most controversial aspect, which would have given recipients of pre-kindergarten grants the ability to qualify for a state voucher to attend private kindergarten.

Currently, Indiana students must attend public school for a year before applying for a voucher, unless the school they would attend for kindergarten has received an "F" accountability grade.

Sen. Vaneta Becker, R-Evansville, said in voting in favor of the program, she's been assured the local business community will support the pilot in the event Vanderburgh County is selected.

"The other thing I do like about this particular program there's nothing set in stone that we're going to fund this in perpetuity," Becker said. "We will look at the studies. We will see the results of those studies and then decide in the future whether to continue to fund the program."

The legislation also creates a pre-kindergarten and early learning study commission. Along with federal dollars, the study commission will explore business partnerships and review what other states have done to develop standards for early learning programs.

Rep. Thomas Washburne, R-Evansville, changed his vote to support the plan. Washburne had voted against an earlier version of the legislation when it first passed out of the House, but supported it Thursday because of the identified funding source and the narrowed eligibility.

Business tax cuts

The Indiana House and Senate gave final approval on a compromise to reduce business taxes in the state. However, in both chambers a handful of Republicans voted against Pence's chief economic priority.

The Indiana Senate passed the proposal, a merger of House and Senate plans, in a 36-12 vote, with Becker being the sole Republican in the chamber to vote against it. The Indiana House passed the plan by a 63-37 vote, with Washburne joining five other Republicans in opposing the plan.

The plan gives counties the option to exempt small businesses that acquire less than $20,000 in equipment and machinery a year from the business personal property tax. Counties also would have the option to eliminate the tax on new investments and to offer "super abatements" to exempt the tax for as long as 20 years.

Sen. Jim Tomes, R-Wadesville, said he supported the final legislation because of the new $20,000 level, which would exempt about half of businesses in the state as opposed to the 71 percent in earlier plans if each county adopted it. Tomes, who had voted against an earlier proposal, also said he supported the timeline of 2015 being the earliest a local option could be exercised.